


Collection of Short stories

by randomgirllll13



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Immortality, Prompt Fic, Science Fiction, Short
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 16:31:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19834111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomgirllll13/pseuds/randomgirllll13
Summary: Collection of short stories, most will not be related to each other.





	Collection of Short stories

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to preface that this works, well technically complete, are subject to change while editing.

Write the internal debate of a scientist who has just discovered the secret to immortality. Should he share his research, or should he keep it to himself? He must make a decision.

It had been an accident. Certainly no one in their right mind, no logically thinking adult, would have gone looking for this information. No one would ask to know what Jeff now knew. No one would want to make the decision he now had to make. And even if they did, who would have looked for the secret to eternal life in experiments on fruit flies?  
Yet that was how he had found it. Dr. Jeff Palowski, PhD, had discovered a way to make cells in a complex organism regenerate seemingly indefinitely- essentially discovering immortality itself- during routine experiments involving both the genetic and social aspects of Drosophila. Perhaps if things had been different he would have been elated. This was, after all, the discovery of the millennia. Most scientists would have considered this the pinnacle of their career. Hell most scientists and most people in general would be ecstatic for the pure simple possibility of eternal life, let alone all the perks of being the one to discover it. Jeff sighed and rubbed his over his tired eyes. If only things had been different…

It would have been bad enough if it had just been a way to make beings immortal (or at least close to it; it was, after all, hard to be sure the flies were immortal without being immortal himself to watch them survive for all time). There would have been overpopulation to consider, as well as the more philosophical and muddy waters of deciding who should be allowed to become immortal and who had the authority to make those decisions. Even more in depth were the considerations of the unknown contributions every future unborn baby would not get the chance to make if the previous generations weren’t dying to make room for them. There would have to be studies on the psychological effects of immortality, of societal impacts of either select or total population immortality, and a whole host of other considerations. 

Jeff would have had to weigh all of that regardless of the method, yet he thought he would have been able to make a decision more easily if the method were more humane and less costly. He was fairly sure if it were as simple as giving cells a medical treatment then this scientific breakthrough should indeed be shared with at least select members of the scientific and political communities. It would have been easy enough to wash his hands of the final decisions, let others handle the moral repercussions since it could easily go either way. But, alas, it was not a humane method. It was a horrific monstrosity of a procedure requiring vast sacrifice. 

Jeff sat back in his squeaky roller chair and stared at the folder in front of him- his findings. He’d been staring at it all night, but it hadn’t gotten him any closer to a decision. No matter what he chose he would be playing God with the course of humanity, something he had always hoped to avoid. If he shared the findings humanity would have to brave all the known and unknown effects of at least some immortal individuals. What if a tyrant like Hitler had had access to this procedure? Jeff mused. But then, if he destroyed his findings and falsified uninteresting results, he would deprive humanity of the chance to explore this branch of existence. And, he argued to himself, since it was essentially a natural phenomena, it was indeed an aspect of natural existence.

Still. As far as Jeff could tell immortality on even a limited scale had the potential for far more negative consequences than positive. And the method…. It would almost certainly be better to destroy it. He’d had nightmares even performing the procedure on fruit flies. To do it even once on a human was… unconscionable.

“Everything ok, Jeff? You’ve been in your office a long time.” Jeff glanced up at the concerned voice, already knowing who it would be. He managed a tired smile.

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you, Jean.” He tried to look reassuring for the only colleague who had thought to check on him the last several days as he’d been locked in his office wrestling with his thoughts.

“Ok, but you let me know if I can get you a coffee or anything. I know how these long projects can get and it’s no help to anybody if you burn yourself out.” She gave him a sweet smile, and turned to leave. 

“ Actually, Jean, if you have a second, would you mind if picked your brain for a moment?”

“No, of course not!” She sat on the only other chair in the room and sat expectantly. “Hit me.”

He started hesitantly, not wanting to give too much away. “If you had discovered a way to- “ he paused, wondering how to skirt the true question. “If you had discovered a way to heal most, if not all, the problems of the human body, hypothetically, would you share your research with the world?”

“Well of course. Isn’t that the dream? To help humanity through our work?” Jeff nodded, expecting that answer.

“And would you still share it if, say, the procedure to cure one person would require the lives of two others?” She took longer to answer this question, considering it for several moments.

“I suppose,” she began slowly, “I would have to say no. While I could envision a world where such a procedure could be used morally and under correct regulation, such as if two people decided they would rather give their lives to help another, perhaps the elderly parents of a single, ill mom of three children, for example, there are too many ways for the corrupt of this world to use it for awful purposes and in immoral ways. I would perhaps hide the research away and entrust it to a trusted person to pass down until the time came, if it ever did, that humanity could be trusted with that information.”

“I’ll confess that I'm a little surprised to hear you take that side, Jean. Considering your own illness,” Jeff said gently.

“I imagine that’s why you asked me, isn’t it? Come now, Jeff what are you working on?” She looked intrigued now, but also worried, which Jeff thought was a reasonable reaction to his questions. 

“I’ve discovered a procedure by which an organism can achieve essential immortality. This procedure also normalizes all cellular functions. It would, for instance, for all intents and purposes, cure your cancer. However, the costs of the procedure, both moral and emotional, are immense. I don’t believe humanity is ready for any sort of immortality, but especially not an immortality bought at such a steep price.” As he said it, Jeff realized he’d arrived at that conclusion days ago. He had never truly believed sharing the research was the right thing to do. Especially knowing what he was about to offer. “But, I agree with you that this research shouldn’t simply be destroyed. I need to find one person that I trust above all others to safeguard these findings and release them if the time is ever right. I would like for you to be that person, Jean. You are both the most brilliant and the most moral of all the people I know, scientist or no. Will you allow me to make you immortal, though not invincible, and promise me to guard these findings as carefully as the codes to a nuclear bomb?” If he, himself, being the person to discover the procedure, was willing to use it even once, knowing the terrible price, to save the person he loved, how could he possibly expect the rest of humanity to use it wisely and unselfishly?

It took most of the rest of the night to convince her, and all of the next to day to set up for the procedure, but Jeff eventually got his way. He downplayed the price, knowing she would see the full extent of it in the folder after- after he was no longer there to hide it. The procedure went smoothly, which Jeff counted a blessing as it had never been tested on anything but fruit flies. When she finally read the folder and screamed at the information inside, Jeff couldn’t bring himself to regret that he had manipulated her into getting the procedure without knowing the full price- the price of a soul. The price of a life would have been bad enough, but Jeff had given his freely that she might live. It was the rest of the price, the sentencing of another to live as a ghost in constant excruciating pain forever attached to the one they gave their cells to, that was monstrous. Jeff had known it would be hard to be without a body, to be unable to speak, unable to feel, unable to do anything but listen to his thoughts, but he hadn’t expected to be this terrible. It was not only physically painful, but painfully lonely. Still, for her survival, he counted it worth it. Until the fourth month. By the second year he was insane from it. By the second century he would have killed the entire human race if he only had the ability…

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism would be appreciated.


End file.
